SOUVENIRS OF MURDER

Partners in life and crime-solving, Ingrid Langley and Patrick Gillard take on what may be the toughest case of their lives.

When you’ve just had a baby, you’re not best pleased to see your man whisked away on an undercover assignment. So it’s easy to imagine Ingrid’s feelings when the Serious and Organized Crime Agency sends Patrick off to capture the very dangerous Andrea Pangborne. In his absence, Ingrid is living in a rented house while the old rectory is being done up to accommodate both their family and Patrick’s parents. His father, the rector, has been very worried indeed by stories of a black-magic cult in the village. When a bossy newcomer is found dead in the church, Ingrid noses around to help their friend DCI Carrick. But the worst is yet to come. Patrick, who’s been doped with a potent mix of drugs, becomes the chief suspect in the murder of a whole group of people in the sordid hideout of Pangborne and her boyfriend. The police seem sure that Patrick did the deed in a drugged state; SOCA withholds judgment. As Patrick, still recovering from his overdose, struggles to remember what happened, a furious Ingrid goes to London to find evidence to clear him. It takes all their skills to solve both cases.

Ingrid’s turn in the starring role of Duffy’s Bond-esque series (Blood Substitute, 2008, etc.) produces a pleasing hybrid of mystery and thriller.